Battle Hymn of the Republic

"We'll keep that in mind, Asher. End of discussion for now- keep it curt." He gestured in the direction from which Cibo had just recently returned. "We need to keep moving." Garrett resisted making any further remarks if only to keep in line with his own requests. Besides, there wasn't anything else to say on the matter.

"The structural damage is too significant to fix with the current resources available to us. The Acid has undermined the integrity of nearly every main component, and it appears as if joints were targeted." A voice spoke up. It belonged to the Admiral, whom many seemed to have forgotten was there. She moved forward, following Hendlow, before quietly announcing "There is a storehouse of these at our destination, perhaps we shall find an intact one."

Destiny quirked an eyebrow, but after the floating bridge, she did not want to ask. This brown-haired girl with vaguely glowing blue eyes was an utter enigma. Whether she was a witch, or a superhero, or something, the redhead could not tell, but whatever she was, she was useful, so the survivor kept her mouth shut, amused that Asher had found another target to annoy.

"Well, that settles it." Kai told them, before pointing down the hallway again. "More walking, and like the XO said, keep it down." With that, the CO moved off, and the group left, some of the other survivors taking backwards glances at the machine, with sweeps of their flashlights. The group continued onward, and, true toward the end, getting slowly used to the broken and cracked, and in some cases nearly utterly destroyed hallway. In at least one spot they had to slip through single file through a small gap left by a very large cave-in, which gave them the impression that it was the reason there hadn't been any mutant-zombies accosting them yet, however, after it they continued to find nothing, although the dirty ground did show more signs of being walked on.

Eventually, they came to a point where Evelyn electronically alerted the squad via their HUD that there were enemies ahead. Kai asked the survivors to turn off their lights, and move in the middle, ordering the squad into a circle around Asher, Destiny, and the three other survivors whom had come with them. The next few minutes were tense, with them slowly moving along in utter darkness, only a few of them seeing, and that just an eerie glow that showed them shapes and extremely faint heat signatures approaching. They kept quiet, and Evelyn had somehow managed to take over as scout in Cibo's stead, her more acute 'senses' guiding them in a path through a large chamber that avoided the eerie Mutants. Those mutants shuffled, groaned, and made other odd noises, sometimes tripping up on objects on the ground, once they heard a couple get in a squabble over something, but, after about ten minutes of slow, quiet walking through the chamber, they reached the other end of it, then retreated a ways into the corridor beyond that.

Then Kai got an idea. typing the interface on his suit's arm, the Lieutenant sent a message to the Demolitions expert Then they waited.

'That inbred son of a...I'm gonna...gonna...' Inwardly, Cibo both whimpered in despair and smoldered with rage simultaneously. It wasn't the first time it was brought up, and it wouldn't be the last; she knew that. Normally, she didn't care about her size, but to have it brought up like this by that filthy degenerate? Cibo ached inside from the man's insult. She wanted to just shoot him or hit him with the butt of her gun, but no! The Admiral was here, and she wasn't a Captain anymore either. 'I miss the old perks.' she sniffed. Before anything could be done though, the rough Lt. had ordered them to move. Cibo was on point. Again.

Tense, chilling moments floated by as the abominations shambled about, not far away. A single misstep, and it was over; if the night vision goggles she wore faltered...so many things could go wrong! Like, the Admiral taking point for an example. A stone dropped in Cibo's stomach as exactly that happened. The Intelligence Agent was well ahead of the main group, and with Evelyn passing her by...Cibo didn't like the idea, but she wasn't in charge, wasn't carrying rank, and wasn't of any importance anymore. Faint blue eyes flickered through the darkness as Evelyn beckoned Cibo, and through her, the rest of the group. Cibo's own blue eyes stared back at the Admiral, weather or not she knew.

'You don't even need us, do you?' she thought.

As the group settled into position, so did Asher. Unlike his usual motor-mouth filled antics during regular situations, the loud-mouth Surandanian was rather tight lipped at this very moment. In his decade and a half stay on this world, in it's current stay, he learned how to keep himself as unnoticed as possible. His body was still, his eyes wide and gently scanning what was ahead of him. Air gently came to and from from his nostril's as his breathing, and eventually heart-beat slowed. It was as if the wild buck of the forest had detected one of it's many predators.

Lieutenant Hendlow was glad to hear and see them all settle- and even moreso as they traipsed through a series of near pitch-black corridors. He was nervous, to be honest. Garrett was a soldier, he'd been through more than his fair share, but being so overwhelmed in numbers and poorly equipped, this almost solid darkness was making him extremely edgy, even with nightvision and all the other high tech implementations. Thankfully Kai could either read minds or had supernatural timing, because a message chirped and displayed on his HUD requesting the XO do what he did best.
Was the speedy response. Garrett dropped to one knee and thrust a hand inside his duffel, careful not to make too much noise sifting through everything. He needed a timed charge to ensure safe delivery; Garrett himself wasn't going to backtrack, but he couldn't very well plant it where he stood; that would eliminate any chance of anyone ever coming through here again. A desirable device was easy enough to find, and once it was activated, the timer provided light that seemed so bright in the darkness Garrett winced when it blinked into existence. He punched in 30 seconds then tossed it like a frisbee. It clattered a good deal, and he could only imagine that would help his cause. And that was that. Hopefully Evelyn would continue to steer them true; the Lieutenant didn't doubt her, no, but he always worked under the assumption that unaccounted variables could fuck up anything.

Adrian tensed as the XO threw a charge into the hallway. The sniper was already down on one knee, rifle trained on the opening in case any of the mutants noticed the explosives before they went off. Hopefully this part of the op wouldn't result in them doing any more emergency air surfing or any other equally uncomfortable surprises.

As soon as the charge clattered and skidded off the ground, Kai typed another command into his HUD interface, and sent it to the squad:
As they began moving, the charge detonated, a bright fireball igniting the darkness behind them. if anyone cared to look, they would see horribly misfigured outlines silhouetted by the roiling conflagration, which caved in a small section of that chamber's roof, as well as ignited several of the mutants. As expected, they were all drawn to the noise and source of the explosion, and began shuffling toward it. None of them noticed the dark shapes quietly sneaking off down the hallway in the opposite direction.

They were close. They could tell, as updates to the map Evelyn had downloaded earlier came in, showing them to be only a hundred yards or so from the large underground cavern that housed their target. The map showed an underground complex similar to the old NORAD back on old earth, except somewhat nicer and less spartan.They soon arrived on the 'doorstep' of the cavern, a large landing at the top of a huge set of stairs, with a cargo elevator to one side, and a vehicle ramp to the other. This cavern, unlike everywhere else, seemed to be lit. "Bioluminescence." Evelyn explained, answering the question everyone was thinking. "Centuries of nuclear power use in this chamber, they knew it would get too radioactive to enter unless they had some way to get rid of the radioactivity. the solution was a simple bacteria that converted the radiation into a form that was both harmless and useful. Records indicate it used to be much brighter in here, but the transition to fusion has had them on a much leaner diet." the AI explained, putting a hand out to show them the complex before them. it was large, and made up of four enormous domes, with an octagonal building in the center, connected to the four domes which were encircling it. An eerie blue glow surrounded the entire place, much brighter around the Fusion reactors than anywhere else. It was hauntingly beautiful, but also disturbing. from their distance of about a quarter mile from the closest section, the group could see the shuffling forms of more of the mutants, wandering aimlessly around. They obviously had yet to notice the marines, but there were enough of them that it was apparent that simply strolling up was not an option, nor was sneaking, or fighting, their way through.

"You said there should be more of those mecha around here, right, Evelyn? Where would they be stored, because I think we need them." Kai asked of the admiral.
"They appear to be located just at the bottom of the elevator." She answered.
"hrrmmm... while I don't doubt the elevator would work, it will most likely gain the attention of our 'hosts'..."
"I don't believe going around is an option, from what I can sense around the bottom of the stairs and vehicle ramp."

"What if we rappelled down the side of the elevator?" Mortego spoke up, causing Kai to look over at the medic in slight shock.
"That... that's a good idea, but only us marines have rappelling gear in our utility kits. How would the survivors get down, being the ones who can pilot the mechs?"
"How about we go down, and cause a distration away from the mechs, allowing the survivors to come down the elevator and get them running." Evelyn suggested, recalling data on some covert operations that had been downloaded into her database.
"We could probably handle that, so long as we get the support quick." Kai concluded, before looking at the rest of his squad, his XO, and the survivors.

"We don't have any problem with that plan" Destiny answered, backed up by nods from the other survivors that had come with them.

"Hey, juss' throwin' this out there, but anybody checked for a service ladda' or somethin'? Even cargo elevators got maintenance ladda's f'mechs t'work on." said Asher, showing a remarkable amount of insight on his person, despite his usual cluelessness. He pointed a gloved finger into his palm, "I mean, y'know, ventilation shafts, maintenance floors. These places are full'a nooks n'crannies that you cn'crawl through wit'out makin' a bunch a noise t'get where y'goin'."

Right this moment, Cibo absolutely hated Asher. She wanted to tie him to a chair, take out a knife and - best not do that a second time. She forced herself to calm down. 'I am an Intelligence Agent. It's my job to be intelligent!' She hated the fact that he got away with calling her flat and was making a suggestion that made perfect sense. Truth be told, she was also angry at being so useless right now. If Cibo were on her own, she'd be able to traverse and get things done much faster without lugging all the meat behind her. 'Even Evelyn will do better without these hunks of junk. she thought, keeping her venom to herself. There was something she could do, now that she thought about it.

"I'll volunteer for vent rat duty, if we need it." she offered. Cibo thought it was better she get some space away from the Surandian before she murderized him anyways.

"Ey, thass' a good idea, I'll hop in wit' 'er. I know 'ow mosta' these vents twist n'twirl so we can slitha' on through t'getha'." said Asher in a sense of seriousness that seemed unnaturally fitting for the situation. He pointed off towards the walls of the area. "It may be a buildin' we neva' been in f'a few years, but iss' a Surandanian buildin'. They dont' make'm too different from one anotha', which iss' why I was confused n'wonderin' that one buildin' we were in made me think it wass' tha' one me n'Dusty met in. If both me an'er go, we'll slip through fasta' and mo' undetected."